South East

Oxford Literary Festival

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:34:32 +0000

The young people's programme at the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival, 20-28 March 2010, includes the chance to meet Anthony Horowitz, Louise Rennison, Philip Pullman, Malorie Blackman, Geraldine McCaughrean, Philip Reeve, Steve Cole, Zizou Corder, Cressida Cowell, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Meg Rosoff, Mal Peet, William Nicholson, Andrew Lane (the author of a new series about Young Sherlock Holmes), star illustrators including Chris Riddell and Axel Scheffler (of The Gruffalo) as well as teen circumnavigator Mike Perham and the captain of the England women's cricket team, and more. Most events take place in Christ Church or Corpus Christi College, or in the Sheldonian.

Highlights of the 270 events on the adult programme include John le Carre, P D James, Ian McEwan, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Victoria Hislop, Anthony Beevor and Jung Chang. Events for young people are £5 or £6

Emily Gravett

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:14:15 +0000

Join award winning picture book author and illustrator Emily Gravett on Tuesday 16th February 2010 as she talks about her life and reads some of her fantastic books including Monkey and Me. And then become an author yourself as you help her to make up a brand new story! Emily will be at Ridge Avenue Library, Enfield, London (N21 2RH) from 11am and at Palmers Green Library, Enfield, London (N13 4EY) from 2.30pm. Suitable for children aged 4 to 8 and their families. Tickets are free but please book in advance by calling T: 020 8379 2708

Author Available: ANDREW KAY: Pretty Boys All In A Row

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:48:54 +0000

Summer 1981 and hedonism rules on the sun-baked island of Ibiza. The streets and bars are overflowing and on the beaches there's a seemingly endless parade of beautiful bronzed adonises. Philip, though, is pasty and pale and plain to boot. Why on earth, he wonders, has he come to this gay paradise when he can barely pluck up the courage even to uncover his body?

Then Philip meets Terry and everything changes. Terry is sixty-something, with a shocking predilection for orange shell suits and plastic flip-flops, but also a bottomless purse and a generous heart. Under Terry's tutelage, Philip begins to discover a whole new self and his transformation from ugly duckling to gorgeous butterfly begins. But Terry, too, has his own demons to face...

In this charming, witty and entertaining novel, Andrew Kay evokes a long-gone and surprisingly innocent world of casual encounters and guilt-free sex, but in the background is a darker theme - the difficulties of ageing, especially in a gay culture obsessed with youth and sexual conquest.

Rosie Alison talks on The Very Thought of You

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:45:22 +0000

Rosie is available for library events.

A story of love, loss and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You has been longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2010 and shortlisted for Amazon Rising Star.

For more information, see
http://www.almabooks.co.uk/the-very-thought-of-you-p-320-book.html

Sadie Jones on Small Wars

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:11:55 +0000

Sadie Jones is available for library events.

The prizewinning and bestselling author of The Outcast returns with an emotionally powerful portrait of a marriage in extremis and a world-view in question. Sadie Jones has produced a passionate, gut-wrenching and brilliantly researched depiction of a 'small war' with devastating consequences; and in doing so, raises important questions that resonate profoundly today.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0701184558

Ben Okri on The Famished Road

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:07:41 +0000

Ben Okri is available for library events.

Azaro is a spirit child who is born only to live for a short while before returning to the idyllic world of his spirit companions. Now he has chosen to stay in the world of the living. This is his story. Winner of the 1991 Booker Prize and the first book in Okri's acclaimed trilogy.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099929309

Marina Hyde on Celebrity

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:05:00 +0000

Marina Hyde is available for library events.

Celebrity is a brilliant, hilarious thinking person's guide to a world obsessed to the point of lunacy by celebrity: a guide to our times and a classic piece of comic writing.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1846552591

Brian Chikwava on Harare North

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:58:19 +0000

Brian Chikwava is available for library events.

Harare North is a shocking, powerful and hugely acclaimed first novel about life as a refugee.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1409076458

Archie Brown on The Rise and Fall of Communism

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:55:45 +0000

Archie Brown is available for library events.

The Rise and Fall of Communism is a definitive and groundbreaking account of the revolutionary ideology that changed the modern world.

For more information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1845950674

Mark Griffiths on The Lotus Quest

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:52:26 +0000

Mark is available for library events.

The Lotus Quest is a magical botanical adventure: a writer's journey in search of the mystery of the Lotus, sacred flower of religions from Egypt to Japan.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=184595100X

Alison Weir on Traitors of the Tower

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:49:06 +0000

Alison Weir is available for library events.

More than four hundred years ago, seven people - five of them women - were beheaded in the Tower of London. Three had been queens of England. The others were found guilty of treason. Why were such important people put to death? Alison Weir's gripping book tells their stories: from the former friend betrayed by a man set on being king, to the young girl killed after just nine days on the throne. Alison Weir is a wonderful storyteller. Through her vivid writing, history comes alive.

For further information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099542285

Ruth Dudley Edwards on Aftermath

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:44:51 +0000

Ruth is available for library events.

Aftermath is a remarkable human, political, and legal story: an insider's account of the landmark attempt to bring the Omagh bombers to justice.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099472171

Caroline Moorehead on Dancing to the Precipice

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:41:56 +0000

Caroline Moorehead is available for library events.

Lucie de la Tour du Pan was the Pepys of her generation: her diaries provide a vivid picture of Versailles, the French Recolution and Napoleon. This richly textured, highly enjoyable biography shows us an extraodinary woman in the midst of her extraodinary times.

For fuirther information, please seehttp://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099490528

Jed Mercurio on American Adulterer

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:37:27 +0000

Jed Mercurio is available for library events.

The subject of this novel is a habitual womaniser. He regards his high libido as physiologically normal; if he goes without a woman for three days, he suffers headaches. He embarks on affairs with Hollywood starlets, with mob molls and numerous female employees, despite debilitating ailments and a persistent fear of losing his beloved wife and children. And this particular philanderer must choose his partners with care and employ painstaking calculation in their seduction. He must go to extraordinary lengths to conceal his affairs from his political rivals - and with good reason. He is the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

For further information, please see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099515873

Paul Collier on Wars, Guns and Votes

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 14:34:18 +0000

Paul Collier is available for library events.

Wars, Guns, and Votes is a timely, powerful and provocative study of the tensions between democracy and violence in the world's poorest countries, by one of the world's leading development economists.

For more information, see http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=0099523515